Smoking among teenagers is an issue that affects countries worldwide and has become so common these days. They build a habit of smoking if they see their friends or parents or any other family member smoking because it gives them a sense of belonging and then they perceive smoking as a normal behavior. No matter how many slogans are painted to support the campaigns to fight against smoking, there is no reduction is seen in smoking among teens. Smoking is openly encouraged through movies, advertisements, and television shows. Good looking actors are often filmed, holding a white stick of cigarette in movies or advertisements which everyone finds cool and attractive. What teenagers most care about, these days is their looks, they want to look superior in society. Just because there is a misconception that modern world admires smoking and it is the trend, teens and kids get involved in smoking. The step we can take to stop the youth involving in smoking by having better control over the child by their parents. Flowing with the trend is not only considered cool but also important because those who don’t follow such trends often become the victims of bullying. Bullying and pressure from peers are one big reason for the vogue of smoking among teens and kids. In some countries, smoking is strictly prohibited, while some are careless enough to not to pay heed on such issues. Smoking among teens has always been quite difficult for several governments and non-governmental organizations to tackle. While youth smoking may be viewed negatively in different nations, it remains an issue regardless of how societies perceive it. There is no doubt that society urge individual to smoke. Therefore, Parents are the only one that can take responsibility for their child’s future. 

As the prevalence of the smoking is ascending, government endeavors to reduce the problem in the United States. The smoking problem among youth causes not only deaths but it also affects the country. Considering such problems to be devastating for future, several governments from different states had attempted to take steps to tackle the smoking problem. California is expecting to raise the legal age for buying cigarettes and other tobacco products to 21, from 18(New York times).  Last year, Hawaii became the first state to pass a law to raise the legal age for purchasing tobacco to 21. More than hundred cities and countries, including Boston, New York City and Suffolk country in Long Island had also adopted the policy. The biggest reason to raise the legal age to 21 is to reduce young people’s access to tobacco when they are more likely to become addicted and when their brains are still developing.  Attempts to quit smoking among teenagers have always been a quite a challenge for several governments. The reason concealed behind this is attributed to the addictive products, such as Nicotine, Heroine etc. These products build a strong addiction in an individual which is quite hard to resist. The addiction it builds in teenagers, make them vulnerable to give up on smoking.

With no decrement in the consumption of tobacco among teens, imposing new policies to quit smoking for teens is a good effort by several governments. The legal age for smoking should be 21, per the author, as the brain is still in the developing stage before 21. During teenage, smoking can cause an adverse impact on teens, as they have not fully developed. Author’s argument in this source is legit that raising legal age can bring down the number of tobacco consumption among teens and kids. Government policies have vital importance to lower the growing risk of deaths among youth. 

But why do teenagers involve themselves in smoking habits? There is a list of factors that influence teenagers to smoke. Peer pressure stands first to do such influence on teens. Teens whose friends smoke are more likely to start smoking early, as it gives them a sense of belonging. When kids and teens see adults, especially their parents or other family members, smoke, they will be more likely to smoke because they will perceive smoking as normal behavior and something that is grown-up and mature. Unfortunately, tobacco companies often gear marketing towards teens. They are a key demographic: most people who become regular smokers start smoking in their teens. Teens are also influenced by the image, media has created about smoking. When teens see movies and television shows where actors smoke, they are more likely to smoke since they often look up to actors and want to emulate their behavior. In advertisements, television shows and movies, healthy and good looking actors are shown smoking, which builds misapprehension among teens and kids that smoking not too bad and it reflects the luxury life. Malaysian kids are getting involved in smoking in response to peer pressure. There are misconceptions among Malaysian teens that smoking is cool, which persuades them to follow this trend.

Teens love to look superior among peers and they can try everything to look superior even if it requires them to smoke a cigarette. Tobacco companies spend millions of dollars to promote their product through movies, television shows, and advertisements, showing kids and teens that smoking reflects your personality. The author argued that teens become what they grew up watching whether it is an actor or any politician they follow(Christy). They build the habits what, they believe, their idols do. A developing brain cannot judge the difference between good and bad. What sounds to them cool is good, even if it adversely affects their health.  

   

Smoking also exudes personality, many people consider it both a beautiful and intrinsically tragic thing. It looks cool and reflects luxury when famous people like Albert Einstein and Winston Churchill, are portrayed holding and smoking a pipe (James Monsees). These pictures develop misconceptions among youth, that smoking represents a gentle behavior and it is meant for gentlemen. Marilyn Monroe holding her cigarette holder, the intellect of Albert Einstein with his pipe or the political aspirations of Winston Churchill that you can just tell through his personality. Smoking pipes had always been so popular in the past and it had also reflected the rich’s personality. Walking around with a white stick in your mouth makes you look cool and people often judge you. Some may see you as a bad person with no hobby or passion while for others it would be cool. In the late nineteen-seventies, Bruce Alexander performed a study on rats in a lab. For this test, a rat was locked up in a small confined cage. The rat was given both water and morphine solution but every time he chose morphine to drink. He had no mate to play with and nothing to do in a small cage. So, all he chose was an addiction to relieve himself from a pain of isolation and depression. With the accumulation of high dose, in his body, he died. Same experimented with a big cage but lots of rats in it this time. Same water and morphine solution were given, but barely any rat died due to the high dose of morphine solution because of this time, they had friends to play with. They could enjoy their quality time and needed no addiction to relieve depression and stress. All rats need is food, water and to perpetuate their life cycle (James Monsees). This experiment showed that no addiction exists unless you are not living a dreadful and terrible life. Loneliness leads to depression and so it forces the person to grab a cigarette stick, light it up, and start smoking. When someone falls into depression, he cares less about his surrounding world and all he wants is the pleasure to feel something good about his life.

Famous scientists, philosophers, and politicians, before the twenty-first century, were portrayed holding a smoking pipe which builds sensation in young minds that smoking reflects your personality. The author said that it might be bad for health but it looks cool and teens are barely conscious about their health. Spending time alone, the author says, can lead the person to fall in depression. If a person spends quality time with his friends, family,  or others, he has fewer chances to become addicted to tobacco. 

Apart from society and peers, the cigarette manufacturers almost play the same role destroying life of an individual. They sometimes advertised their ads on TV without caring how it can affect the children? And knowing that tobacco causes lung cancer and kills, tobacco companies still keep on manufacturing harmful addictive cigarettes without caring about their customers. Tobacco companies are negligent in telling their customers about the risks. Tobacco kills more people than the combined death toll from road accidents, illicit drugs, alcohol, murder, AIDS, diabetes and skin cancer. In Victoria, tobacco kills nearly six times as many people as alcohol, 11 times as many as road accidents and 18 times as many as illicit drugs (Struik, Laura). Tobacco companies these days are targeting teens by reaching them through advertising in magazines, online and through special promotions designed to lure them into thinking that smoking is cool or a way to express their independence.  These tobacco companies know the taste of youth in music and fashion, what products their future customers might prefer, and how to reach them. They spend enormous resources tracking the behaviors and preferences of youth under 21. They knowingly place advertisements in magazines popular with youth. They send emails without verifying the age of their customers, Thus, making the youth and so the future of the country, vulnerable.

Being aware that tobacco is injurious to health, tobacco companies put no effort to make their products safer, rather they manufacture more harmful products to kill the youth. The author argued that tobacco companies are promoting their poisons among youth without caring about its catastrophic results (Rachael Rettner). Tobacco companies bring no solution forward even after the protests. These companies hire powerful lawyers and spend millions of dollars to fight against those who protest them. They suppress the people’s voice and with no fear continue promoting their products. The author believes that it is hard to fight against these powerful companies and they are the parents who hold the responsibility to teach their kids about smoking.   

 

Once someone traps in the web of smoking, it is almost impossible to get back. If a non-smoker is not strong enough, it is most likely he will die because of cancer. But per scientists, there are many ways to quit smoking, one of them is to use e-cigarettes. As argued in the source, an e-cigarette can be used as the substitute of regular cigarettes, which are rich in nicotine content. It is believed that e-cigarettes are much safer than regular cigarettes and many smokers claim that it helps them quit the smoking habit. E-cigarettes suppress cravings for cigarettes more successfully than nicotine-replacement products currently on the market because e-cigarettes include smoking-related stimuli (Madline R. Vann). But to what extent these electronic cigarettes are safe? Per a 2015 report in ‘The New England Journal of Medicine’, it was found that e-cigarette vapor contains higher levels of formaldehyde than regular cigarettes. High levels of formaldehyde can cause lung cancer. But do e-cigarettes ease withdrawal? Replacing regular cigarettes with e-cigarettes does not produce good results as e-cigarettes are also considered equally harmful as the regular one. E-cigarettes deliver a high concentration of nicotine to the lungs, leading to a rapid drug spike in the bloodstream. Though some e-cigarette users found the product excellent as it helped them stop smoking by easing nicotine withdrawal symptoms but the author argues that electronic cigarettes are actually less effective than proven nicotine delivery systems such as the patch. Source concerned that instead of helping in descending smoking and nicotine dependency, electronic cigarettes might be a stepping-stone for a new generation of nicotine addicts (MadeLine R. Vann).

How to quit smoking without quitting smoking? Using e-Cigarettes doesn’t help you in quitting smoking. Since it is safer than regular cigarettes, it is highly recommended by doctors to use e-cigarettes instead of regular cigarettes. But the author argued that these e-cigarettes are not much safer as expected. They may suppress the cravings for cigarettes but they contain chemicals like formaldehyde which can cause lung cancer (MadeLine R. Vann). Thus, per the author, an e-cigarette might be a substitute of a regular cigarette, but it is also not good to use it at the expense of one's health. So, does it mean we can’t quit smoking? Absolutely we can if we have the willpower.

 

Quitting Smoking is quite a challenge for all the smokers. But when they quit smoking, nothing brings them more pleasure as they feel less stress and depression than those who continue smoking, per the surveys. At first, quitting smoking remains a big challenge for the smokers to face. But quitting smoking brings them happiness as they feel more attached to their friends, family and beloved ones. Non-smokers are believed to have a better quality of life than those who are reluctant to quit smoking. Thus, life satisfaction can be used as a motivating tool for people reluctant to quit smoking. Studies showed that there is no addiction to tobacco. An individual builds an addiction to tobacco when he feels lonely and depressed (Randy Dotinga). Depression persuades people to smoke a cigarette, which makes them feel better and less depressed. Cigarettes isolate their consumers from their social life and eventually, make them feel more depressed. Cigarette reduces depression and stress for the smoker but later increases the depression twice. Smokers end up getting more depressed, but by spending quality time with friends and family can reduce depression and stress to a great extent, and so it can also help people to avoid smoking cigarettes. Why would someone need a source of addiction if he has a better quality of life? Isolation from social life causes cravings for cigarettes which make them more isolated from the world.

Smoking is not a passion or hobby, it is a disease, which is needed to be cured. Author’s argument is valid that tobacco isolates people from their social life, which can be disastrous for their future life(Randy Dotinga). Lack of passion or interest can force teens to start smoking. Picking some hobby can divert one’s mind from tobacco. Quitting smoking can make a person feel so delightful as it brings them back into the world. The author argues that loneliness and depression lure people to smoke.  

 

If a person starts smoking it is not only his fault, we can’t blame him because the society urges everyone to smoke. And it’s very hard to make such decisions whether to smoke or not in teenage years. So, parents play a huge role in the development of child’s brain, they can teach their kids and make them smart enough to avoid making such decisions they can make in future that can make them suffer. If the person already smokes, then it is now his willpower to quit or not to quit. But if that person cannot quit smoking then it is his fault if they have the willpower to quit smoking, then that’s all they need to live a better life.

If you smoke, you will see bunch of advertisements and research of how to quit smoking but it’s not that effective. The first step should be to be away from smoking and to have better knowledge how life can change by not taking decisions intelligently. You cannot quit smoking easily, you need to be tough to quit smoking. The easier way would be if you would stay away from smoking in the first place. We can keep the young generation away from drowning into the disaster of smoking by paying more attention to our lifestyle. Parents take the first responsibility of what their kid’s future will be, the kid can grow himself as a smoker or a non-smoker depending on their surroundings. If a child has a better understanding that what’s good for him and what’s bad for him. Then they will never smoke.  
